Cuba Gooding Jr. Joins Martin Luther King Film SELMA

According to Deadline, Cuba Gooding Jr. has joined the cast of Paramount's SELMA, directed by Ava DuVernay, and co-starring David Oyelowo, Tom Wilkinson, Oprah Winfrey and Martin Sheen.

SELMA is "a feature drama about Martin Luther King's 1965 landmark voting rights campaign, regarded as the peak of the civil rights movement. Gray came to prominence while working alongside King during that period."

Gooding Jr. is best known for his Oscar winning portrayal of the charmingly arrogant pro football player Rod Tidwell in Cameron Crowe's Jerry Maguire. In addition to the Academy Award, he received the Screen Actors Guild Award, the Broadcasters Film Critics Award, the Critics Choice Award and the Chicago Film Critics Award for his performance. In 1991, he received critical acclaim for his portrayal of Tré Styles in John Singleton's coming-of-age classic Boyz in the Hood, which earned him ShoWest's Newcomer Award. He followed this success with roles in numerous critically acclaimed major films, such as Men of Honor, As Good as It Gets, What Dreams May Come, and the Oscar-nominated A Few Good Men, as well as Pearl Harbor, Radio, Murder of Crows (which he also co-produced), American Gangster, Shadowboxer and this year's George Lucas-helmed Red Tails. He has also appeared in award-winning movies for television including Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story and 2011's Firelight. Gooding will next be seen in Robert Rodriquez's sequel to Machete, Machete Kills, and Lee Daniels' highly anticipated film, The Butler. In 2002, Gooding received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame honoring his extraordinary achievements. A native of the Bronx, he will be making his professional stage debut in The Trip to Bountiful.